Brotherhood Evolution
by Moonheart13
Summary: Ever wonder how the Brotherhood met each other? If they liked each other at first? What about the episodes they weren't in? Did they ever find ways to actually bond with each other? Why did Pietro betray the Brotherhood? What made them change their minds on fighting Apocalypse? Take a look inside and find out!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men Evolution nor do I own any of Marvel's characters.**

**Warning: Only the slightest of angst, but only if you squint.**

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><p>"Mr. Tolanski."<p>

Todd gave a small grunt and opened his eyes a little. Through the cracks, he saw—

"Agh!" The teen flung himself back in complete terror. "You!"

The woman gave a rough sigh, her head tilted slightly back before straightening it to glare down at him. "Yes, it's me, Tolanski. Now would you get out from under there?"

"Nu-uh!" Todd said with a shake of his head as he moved even further into his hiding place. "I'm safe here!"

"You're living like a homeless person. A boy your age should not be living in a cemented tunnel."

"Wh-why do you even care?" Todd asked shakily, keeping an eye on her as he leaned his back against the hard, curved wall. "Thought I wasn't no good tah ya no more."

"Indeed, you did foul up your mission at the Institute, but that does not mean I'm going to allow you to continue living this way." The woman knelt down so Todd could easily see her in the archway, still in her disguise as principal. "I have a place for you to live; rent-free."

Todd's eyes widened. "R-really? I don' gotta pay?"

"I will take care of all of that. This home will be a place for mutants with nowhere else to turn; much like yourself."

Todd glanced down at the bottom of the tunnel, noticing all the bugs skittering around at his feet, briefly tempted to eat a couple, but forced himself to focus on the situation at hand.

There was a pregnant pause as Todd mused over his situation.

Let's see…live in a horrible, lonely ditch for the next few years or go with the scary lady to a place where I can sleep in a warm bed and maybe get some sort of friends?

…as tempting as the ditch seemed versus the scary lady sounded, Todd glanced back up at the woman and with only the slightest hesitation, he said, "Ya got yerself a resident then, lady."

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><p>"<em>This<em> will be your new home, Mr. Tolanski," Mystique stated firmly, dragging the teen in by his arm.

Once he was inside, Todd glanced around the boarding house, amazed by the sheer size of it. It wasn't really fancy or anything, but boy, was it _big_! He could tell it had at least two floors, maybe even with a basement or attic.

He'd never lived in a place so huge before.

"'S'nice…" he muttered, still staring around.

"Glad you think so," the shape-shifter said thickly as she let him go—or rather, threw him. "Go pick out your room."

"Wait!" Todd struggled up to his feet and saw her back was to him. "Where ya goin'?"

"A little trip," the woman answered as she continued out the door. "I'll be back by tomorrow night. Make sure to get to school tomorrow and don't do anything too idiotic."

Todd frowned to himself as she slammed the door shut.

_"__Alone…again. Why'd I ever expect anything different?"_ the teen thought to himself grimly before hopping up the stairs.

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><p>The next night, Todd was sitting on the stairs, looking bored as ever. He idly watched a cockroach make its way down the stairs beside him. He allowed it to reach the very bottom before shooting his tongue out and bringing the bug into his mouth, eventually swallowing it before giving a sigh.<p>

Suddenly, much to his relief, the door opened.

"There ya are!" Todd exclaimed as he saw the familiar blue-mutant. "Man, I've been sittin' 'round here half the day, bored outta mah—"

"Quiet, Toad," Mystique snapped coldly and the frog-like mutant shut his mouth in fear of the fierceness in her eyes. "Now, I want you to welcome your new housemate." She stepped aside and gestured to a young man Todd had never seen before. "This is Lance Alvers; codename, Avalanche."

The guy had a dark, edgy look to him, his hands covered by fingerless black gloves and he wore a casual, smooth expression. He looked around Todd's age, but definitely a little older. He very much reminded Todd of those guys who would stand behind the school building and get high or something.

To Todd, he looked kinda cool.

"Hey," the new guy said quietly, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Yo," Todd said in reply, trying to lean into the stairs casually, but ended up bumping his head on the step above. "Oww…"

Mystique rolled her eyes before gesturing to him. "This is Todd Tolanski; codename, Toad."

"Ya can jus' call me Toad, yo," Todd said as he rubbed his head before pulling himself upright and flinging his body over until he was directly in front of the other teen who flinched in obvious surprise before relaxing.

"You can call me Lance," the young man stated. "What can you do? Is that hopping thing—"

"Yeah!" Todd exclaimed, feeling excited that someone this cool-looking was talking to him. "I can do that, I can make dis killer slime, and—" He stuck his tongue out, quickly hitting the very end of it on a spot near the doorway where Mystique was still standing (he ignored her grimace of disgust) before bringing his tongue back into his mouth. "—that."

Lance blinked in shock at the other teen before actually smiling a little. "That's pretty cool."

Todd couldn't help the smile that crossed his face. "Thanks. What can you do?"

Lance's grin broadened before holding out his hands and began to shake them slightly…as did the rest of the house. Todd shrieked a bit in fear at the sudden earthquake as Lance's eyes rolled upward in concentration.

"Stop it, Mr. Alvers!" Mystique ordered.

Immediately, the shaking grew less and less as the rock-tumbler placed his hands down in slight exhaustion and looked back at the shape-shifter. "I wasn't trying to—"

"Silence," the woman stated stiffly. "For as long as you live here, you will do best to keep your powers under control."

Lance looked upset by the order, Todd seeing his hands balling up into fists, but the dark-haired teen managed to keep himself in check and instead glared softly at the ground.

"Now, I need to get back to the school tonight. I trust you will both continue to get settled?"

Todd and Lance found themselves glancing at each other before looking back at Mystique.

"Sure."

"Whatevah."

"Good," Mystique said, narrowing her eyes slightly at the boys before heading out, shutting the door behind her.

Todd and Lance stood in an awkward silence for a few long moments before Todd suggested, "You'd bettah choose one of the good rooms upstairs before somebody else does."

"Yeah," Lance agreed as the two headed up the stairs, side by side. "How many people do you think are gonna be here?"

"I don't know, man," Todd said as he hopped over the last few steps. "Mystique didn't tell me nothin'."

"Yeah…is she…?"

"She's always like that. I'd get used tah it."

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><p><strong>AN: I know, I know, Moon, stop making so many X-Men fanfics, you can't possibly keep track of them all. Yeah, I know. BUT I CAN'T HELP IT! I'm having too much fun! With finals coming up, writing fanfiction snippets once a day has really helped me. I know I have other work to do, but I didn't get much of a break since I had to work on that English presentation (did it today, I think I did good!), so I have some downtime now and definitely tomorrow after classes I will.**

**So, this is a new series I'm starting and it's basically from the beginning of the Brotherhood's journey from meeting and becoming a team to...whenever. I might just go until Apocalypse, it really depends if I get bored. Most likely, I'll probably just have it until the end of the series.**

**For this chapter, we have that little cutie, Toad and Lance appearing and meeting each other. I feel like Todd would definitely look up to Lance because the guy has been shown to be a rebel, "raised on the wrong side of the tracks" kind of guy and Todd, especially when he's with his team, becomes much more brave and creates this sort of "wise-guy" attitude. I think it makes him feel bigger or something.**

**This entire series is going to be from the Brotherhood's perspective of all the events going on all four seasons. I'm not trying to pain them as misunderstood or anything (let's face it, these d-bags go _looking_ for trouble half the time), but I've always found the Brotherhood much more fun and interesting than the X-Men and thought it would be cool to get there point of view on what was happening. As for any of the episodes they are not featured in (like the one with Cyclops and Alex stranded in the ocean or the one with Danielle Moonstar), I'll make up my own storyline for what they were doing during that episode.**

**For the next chapter, we'll have the goings-on for the episode "Mutant Crush"! Thanks for reading and leave a review if you would like! I'm open to any suggestions!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men Evolution nor any of Marvel's characters.**

**Warning: Mild language and mentions of slight violence.**

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><p>"…so, what do ya think?"<p>

"…I _hate_ it here."

The two mutants stood side by side in the lunchroom, Lance with a dark look in his eyes and Todd looking bored out of his mind.

"Yeah, I kinda figured," the latter said, scratching the back of his neck.

"I never thought I'd go back to school, at least considering how I leveled at least half of the last one," Lance commented as he glanced around the room, not in the least bit impressed by the building nor the student body.

"Heh, yeah. That was pretty cool, yo."

"Thanks."

"Boys?"

They both flinched at the sudden voice and turned around to see Ms. Darkholme, her arms folded and eying them suspiciously through her glasses.

"Are you both behaving?" she asked—or rather, growled.

"Yeah, of course we are!" Lance stated, looking insulted. "Do you see any earthquakes—"

"Hush up! Do you want everyone to know what you are, Mr. Alvers?"

Lance glared at the woman before glancing down at his shoes, despite how much he wanted to have the ceiling crash down on her.

"That's what I thought," the shape-shifter said before pointing past them. "Now, do you see that girl?"

The two followed her line of focus to see a girl with a white streak through her auburn hair, sitting all alone at a table.

"Who is she?" Todd asked.

"Someone very important," was the only answer the principal gave. "I want you two to befriend her."

"Why?" Todd asked, looking skeptical before receiving a fierce glare and a pair of yellow eyes flashing at him for a moment. Then, he gave a nervous smile. "Right. Thanks fo' the explanation."

Lance glanced back at the girl, noticing the way she sat hunched over, her hair blocking most of her face, and how tightly she gripped her fork in one gloved hand, but did not eat. He frowned a bit and furrowed his brow before asking as he turned around, "But what if she doesn't want to be our—hey, where'd she go?"

Sure enough, the woman had disappeared without a trace, leaving the two boys to stare dumbly at the place she had been.

"Man, I hate when she does that!" Todd stated with a shiver. "Creeps me out, yo!"

Lance glanced back at the girl before giving a shrug. "Well, might as well do what she says."

"Do ya think she'll like us?" Todd asked as the two began to head over to grab their lunch trays.

"I doubt it," Lance replied as he grabbed a tray and put it in front of the lunch lady. "She doesn't look the friendliest."

"Yeah, I know what ya mean," Todd said as the lunch lady dropped the food unceremoniously onto their trays and the two made their way toward the table the girl was seated at.

When they were only a few feet away, the girl glanced up, her icy, grey eyes slightly narrowed in suspicion. "Yes?" she asked, her voice indicating that she would much rather be doing something else other than giving the two boys the time of day.

"Uhh, we was, uhh…" Todd floundered before settling on stepping a little behind Lance as the girl's expression was scaring him a little bit.

"We wanted to know if we could sit here," Lance spoke up, trying to sound polite.

"…it's a free country," was the only response the girl gave as she turned back down to her food.

Lance and Todd exchanged a similar glance before they each sat down.

"So…" Lance started to say after a few minutes of silence, "Where are you from?"

"None of your business."

Todd and Lance quickly glanced at each other with their eyes before looking back at the girl.

"Okay…" the rock-tumbler muttered as he poked his food with his fork, a little disturbed by the way it jiggled…was that supposed to be chicken?

"What's yer name?" Todd asked suddenly. "I'm Todd an' this guy is Lance."

"…Rogue."

"Rogue? Why are you called—"

"Ah just _am_, okay?" the girl defended herself stiffly, glaring at them. "Why are you two even sittin' here in the first place?"

"Whoa! Jeez, we was jus' tryin' tah make some convers—"

"Well, maybe Ah don't _want_ to make any conversation with you," Rogue shot back.

"Well, pardon us, then!" Lance snapped, looking shocked and angry. "We're just trying to be nice!"

"Do Ah _look_ like Ah care?" the girl replied with a face that clearly stated her point.

Lance glared a bit before looking back down at his food. Beside him, Todd looked at his new friend with a hint of empathy before glancing back at the girl. Rogue gave him a dark glare and he automatically looked down at his food as well, knowing he wouldn't have any better luck than Lance did at talking to her.

Suddenly, there was a gasp from a table nearby and all heads turned to look at Duncan Matthews who currently had food all over him. Following his line of sight was an over-weight teen lying on his back, covered in food as well.

"Bad move, Blob-boy," the jock declared as he and his goons began to advance on the blond, who was trying to get to his feet, but kept slipping against the food strewn on the ground around him.

Soon, the whole room was laughing at the guy, all somehow finding it hilarious that he couldn't get up.

Todd watched the fat teen react to the obnoxious laughter and saw the rage beginning to show on his face before the frog-like mutant gave a grin. _"Yeah, show 'em yer worst, man,"_ he thought with excitement. _"It's about time somebody put that jerk in his place."_

Not a second after the thought passed through him, the over-weight teen finally got up and…basically had a fit.

Food was soon being thrown everywhere, not only by the blond, but some of the students had joined in as well, since who could resist a food fight?

Todd managed to duck in time before a cupcake hit him—only to have it hit Lance instead. The rock-tumbler growled at him as Todd gave a shrug and a nervous chuckle before the two had to duck again, a tray sailing over their heads.

When he looked back up, Todd saw that Rogue had vanished and they were alone at the table. Todd glanced over at the X-Men table and saw Kitty, that girl Lance had told him about, phase right through the floor before looking back at Lance.

"I don' know 'bout chu, yo, but that Pryde chick has got the right idea. I'm gettin' outta here!"

"Right behind you," Lance grunted as the two made a break for it and ran out the door to the hallway, neither noticing the goth girl flattened against the lockers.

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><p>Todd sat in front of the television, flipping through the channels in a bored fashion. "Man, they ain't got <em>nothin'<em> on."

He'd been pretty much raised on television, since his mother wasn't home when he still lived with her as a little boy, and the numerous foster homes he was placed in didn't have anyone who _really_ cared enough to acknowledge his presence. It seemed most of what he'd learned in life, he'd learned from watching TV.

"Isn't the game on?" Lance asked as he walked in, munching on a few crackers from a box he'd found in one of the cupboards.

"Nah, that's fo' tomarra night," Todd replied, still flipping through. "Wish we got bettah channels here."

"I know," Lance said, sitting down in one of the chairs. "The last place I lived, we had over a thousand channels."

"An' still nothin' tah watch?"

"Yep."

Suddenly, they heard the door swing open and they both felt a familiar chill travel up their spines. The two immediately scrambled into the main hallway to see, as they had already suspected, Mystique standing there, her usual scowl plastered on her face. What was unusual was the very large teen next to her.

He looked pretty scary, the kind of guy you probably wouldn't want to be cornered by in a dark alleyway. His head was down as glanced off a bit to the side.

"This is Fred Dukes," Mystique stated firmly, gesturing to the boy next to her. "He is a new student at Bayville High School. I assume you must have seen him earlier today."

"Wait a minute," Todd said as he hopped a bit closer to get a god look at the new mutant. "You the guy who was tearin' shit up in the lunchroom today?"

The blond looked down at him, looking embarrassed before switching to a defensive stance. "Yeah, that was me. You wanna make somethin' outta it?"

"Dude, that was wicked!"

Fred blinked in surprise, not sure how to respond.

"Yeah, that food fight you started was hilarious! I've never seen a whole lunchroom go that crazy!" Todd continued before Lance added, "Yeah, and I thought _I_ could really shake things up! You're a powerhouse, dude."

Freddy found himself smiling a bit at the compliments, amazed that he wasn't being laughed at or being mocked. "Thanks. Uhh…you can call me the Blob."

"The Blob?" Lance echoed.

"It was my stage name," Fred explained.

"And now it shall be your codename," Mystique spoke up. "And this shall be your new home and these are your teammates."

"Teammates?" Lance asked, looked at her with a confused, slightly suspicious expression. "What are you—"

"I will discuss all that much later," the shape-shifter decided as she moved past Freddy and towards the door. "For now, stay aware and get used to one another. Oh, and try to stay out of trouble. I'm busy enough as it is without worrying about all of you causing a ruckus." With that, she turned into a raven and flew off into the night.

The three watched her leave until she had faded into the darkness before Lance inquired, "Teammates? What does that even mean? I thought she was just giving us a place to stay."

"Yeah, me too," Fred agreed, scratching his head.

"Maybe it's gotta do wit' them x-geeks?" Todd suggested. "She had me try to investigate their place before I moved intah here."

"Yeah..." Lance scoffed. "So much for thinking someone was finally being charitable towards people like us. I mean, what does she expect us to do? Fight them?"

"I hope so," Fred said, cracking his knuckles slightly. "I'd be happy to break a few skulls."

Todd laughed hard at this and just as Freddy could feel a familiar anger prickling through him at the sound of laughter, the teen surprised him by hopping next to him and jabbing him in the stomach with his elbow. "I like yer style, bro!"

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><p><strong>AN: Hey! Finally updated this! I had to go back and rewatch this episode to make sure to get the events in the lunchroom just right, such as the dialogue.**

**So, I figure Lance and Todd become pretty fast friends once they met (considering they come from presumably similar backgrounds) and as far as Rogue goes, I really don't think she ever lived at the Brotherhood house. We never see her there and it's never said that she actually lived there, at least to my memory. I really don't know if Raven would trust the boys to live with her "daughter". So, that's why I think Raven would them to try to befriend her because she wants Rogue to be a part of the Brotherhood. However, Rogue is very untrustworthy and it takes a long time for her to even trust the X-Men, even after she joins the team.**

**When I first watched this episode, I didn't much care for Fred, but the second time through, I ended up finding him to be very sympathetic and although he was wrong to kidnap Jean, you can tell he's very confused and doesn't quite know what's right. Besides, after this, his crush on Jean is never mentioned again.**

**Also, I could see the boys finding Fred pretty cool and Todd rooting for him to take Duncan down. He's such a dick...**

**Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this one and my next chapter is pretty much finished so I'll post that one soon. Sorry for the hold-up on this one!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men Evolution nor any of Marvel's characters.**

**Warning: Nothing, really. Pretty clean chapter.**

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><p>"Mr. Tolanski, Mr. Alvers, and Mr. Dukes. Report to my office immediately."<p>

Lance developed a pained look on his face as he stood up from his desk (all the other students taking that moment to 'ooh' teasingly at him) and walked out.

_Wonder what that lady wants now? Maybe she'll finally explain this whole 'team' thing to us._

When Lance entered the principal's office, he halted for a moment.

A pair of grey, gothic eyes glared back at him from a nearby chair.

_Well, this is just peachy._

"Hey," he said to the girl in greeting as he headed more into the room.

Rogue said nothing to him, but her eyes stayed trained on him, as though she was waiting for him to suddenly attack her.

"Okay, then," Lance mumbled as he headed over to a nearby counter and leaned against it, folding his arms.

An awkward, annoying silence followed before the door opened once more.

"I'm serious, yo! He jus' kept dronin' on an' on until one of the kids hit 'im wit' a paper airplane an' he didn't even blink!"

Surprisingly, Lance felt himself relax a bit at the sight of Todd and their newest housemate, Freddy, come in.

"That sounds kinda silly, Toad," Fred said in reply before noticing Lance. "Oh, hey, Lance. Do you know what we're doin' in here?"

The teen gave a shrug. "No idea. I've been on my best behavior since I got here."

"Maybe she wants tah make sure it stays that way?" Todd suggested, hopping over to a seat next to Rogue's.

The girl glanced over at him, but quickly looked down at the floor, not even bothering to cast a look up at Fred. The over-weight teen walked past her, his eyes falling on her for just a moment before heading over to his own counter and Lance knew why.

Freddy had told them that Rogue had ended up blasting him with her eyes (technically with Summers' power) for some reason. He didn't explain what happened, but the boys didn't press him. After all, it wasn't really any of their business.

"Who knows?" Lance replied to Todd with a shrug and the room was quiet for a while.

Minutes passed and people came in and out of the office to retrieve files and such, nobody even trying to talk to the strange group.

Todd kept glancing over at Rogue as he squatted in his chair, taking the moment to actually _look_ at her. It should come as no real surprise that, although her grim expression and bad attitude were a little terrifying, she was quite attractive. It occurred to the toad-like mutant that if she were to ever smile, she could probably be considered beautiful or, at the very least, pretty.

He smiled at the thought, despite how the girl turned away from him in obvious dislike.

Freddy brought out an old paddleball he'd found in his room at the boarding house the other night and used it to entertain himself, while Lance stood near, curiously watching the goth girl.

Believe it or not, the rock-tumbler did very much want to get to know the girl because she seemed like them.

Rejected, abandoned, lonely…really, it made sense that she should be their friend.

Still, Rogue didn't seem to want anything to do with the boys. Lance had tried to figure out why Mystique wanted him and Todd to befriend her, but couldn't come up with a specific reason. He'd considered the similarities, of course, but there _had_ to be more to it than just being a loner.

There was some kind of connection, he knew, but the answer was—

"Rogue," a voice said, making Lance slightly flinch as he looked up to see the principal holding her door open.

The goth girl immediately stood, shuffling past the boys and into the office.

"I'll deal with you three in a few minutes," Ms. Darkholme stated firmly before shutting the door.

"…well, she seems to be in a good mood," Lance mumbled.

* * *

><p>About fifteen minutes passed before the principal's door finally opened and Rogue stepped out. She walked passed the boys, her head down as she headed into the hallway.<p>

"Boys," Ms. Darkholme stated from her office.

The three exchanged unsure glances before walking into her office.

"Close the door," she said and Fred, the last one in, did so.

The woman stood up before transforming into her true form, appearing more comfortable in her blue skin and fiery red hair.

"So, uhh…" Todd started to ask. "Why're we here, yo?"

"I wanted to inform you all that you will have a new teammate before the night is over."

Lance raised an eyebrow. "That's it? Why couldn't you have just—"

"This housemate is very important to your group," she interrupted him, standing directly in front of him. "I want you to make him feel welcome."

"Why?" Lance questioned while Todd and Fred stared at him like he was suicidal for asking.

"…I am not in that position to tell," the woman said as she moved back behind her desk.

"But—"

"Mr. Alvers, you are not permitted to question me when I give you orders," she growled, her yellow eyes glowing fiercely. "Are we understood?"

Todd gulped as he imagined Lance going off the rails with his powers, but much to his surprise, the teenagers merely dug his nails into his palms, saying, his voice thick with obvious dislike as he slightly mocked her voice, "Oh, yes. We're understood."

"Good," Mystique stated as she transformed back into her principal guise and said, "Now all of you head back to class and try to clean the place up a bit when you get home."

The boys all nodded reluctantly before leaving the room. Once they were in the hall, Lance let out a frustrated, yet stifled yell as he slammed his fist into one of the lockers.

"God, I _hate_ her!" he barked.

"Yo, man, she's all we got right now," Todd pointed out, hopping Lance wasn't about to unleash his fury onto him.

Lance breathed harshly for a few moments before snarling, "I hope she gets what's coming to her." Then, with that cryptic statement, Lance trudged off to his class (or possibly somewhere else), leaving Todd and Fred to look at each other.

"What did he mean by that?" Fred asked.

"Dunno, dawg…all I got from that was he hopes somethin' _pretty_ bad happens tah her…an' I can't say I blame 'im."

* * *

><p>The world was dark, the streets quiet. The only noises the teenager could hear were the motor in the car and his own breathing. He stealthily glanced over at the man next to him who hadn't said one word since they'd gotten in the car.<p>

And, of course, Pietro Maximoff could neither sit still nor shut up for a long amount of time.

"So, where exactly are you taking me?" he asked, fidgeting in his seat.

…no answer.

"Sounds _great_," Pietro said sarcastically.

"You will learn in due time," the man said, a slight edge to his voice.

Pietro sighed loudly, leaning back in his seat and folding his arms. "You could have just given me the directions on how to get there. I could have been there hours ago."

"I want to make sure you arrive."

The speedster frowned at this, but didn't look at his companion. "You don't trust me?"

"Well, you did frame your own friend."

"Hey, Daniels was _never_ my friend!" Pietro argued, his voice defensive, now openly narrowing his eyes at the man. "He was my teammate! That's not the same as a friend! Besides, he got was comin' to him!"

"You are playing with fire, Pietro," the man stated, his voice dark. "I suggest you hold your tongue."

At the sound of his name, Pietro visibly froze up before looking away, saying nothing more as he glared down at his feet.

After several long minutes, the car finally came to a stop and Pietro looked out the window eagerly, even pressing his hands up against the glass, his nose touching it slightly.

Before him was a large, old, Victorian-type house. It didn't look particularly grand or welcoming, but it didn't look like any kind of prison…or an asylum.

Pietro suppressed a familiar shiver at the thought before glancing back at the man. "What're we doin' here, huh?"

"This will be your new home."

Pietro blinked at him before giving a scoff. "Yeah. Right. _Home._ Like that's ever meant anything to me." Then, after a light pause, he added with a pinch of venom in his voice, "_You_ know that."

The man stiffened before saying, "Your foster parents have been informed about this new development in your life and have willingly complied."

"Tch. How much did you pay them to get rid of me?"

The man said nothing, but his eyes darkened more.

"Whatever," the speedster snapped as he opened the car door. "I'll just go in." He pushed himself out of the car and turned around to shut the door. Just before he did, he stared directly at the other passenger who had still not faced him.

"See ya, father," Pietro said before shutting the door and rushing up to the house.

* * *

><p>"Yo, man, I jus' wanna get some sleep," Todd groaned as he laid sprawled out on the couch, hugging a pillow against the side of his face.<p>

"Not yet, Toad!" Fred said, tossing a pillow at his head.

"Oww! What the—"

"We all promised we'd stay up until the new recruit gets here," Lance said as he flipped through the channels on the TV.

"Can't I jus' say I was lyin' an' go tah bed?"

"No!" the two other mutants shouted.

Todd just buried his face back in the pillow, groaning.

Driving home that day for the boys had been slightly awkward considering their discussion with Mystique, but as teens tend to do, Lance's earlier outburst was soon forgotten and things were back to normal by the time they got home.

Suddenly, there was a rather persistent knocking at the door. The three exchanged a few similar looks before Lance got up and went to the front, opening the door to see—

"Hi there!" a young man greeted him, but strangely, Lance didn't get a good look at the guy because in a flash, he was…gone.

Lance blinked at the space where the teen had been before he heard the new voice in the other room.

"Hi, the name's Pietro! If any of you have a problem with the way I talk, look, act, _whatever_, speak now or forever hold your peace!"

The three housemates stared at the white-haired teen, who was standing in the middle of their living room, his icy blue eyes darting back and forth between them, as if he was just waiting for one of them to make a comment.

"So…yer our other teammate?" Todd finally asked after a long moment of silence.

"Teammate? Uh, yeah…teammate! Yep, that's me! Reporting for duty!"

"Really?" Lance asked suspiciously, folding his arms.

Pietro suddenly zoomed up in front of him, making him flinch in surprise. "Yes, _really_. And who are you three, anyways?"

"The name's Lance," the brunette shot back, slightly glaring at the other boy.

"Lance? Talk about lame!"

"How's 'Pietro' any better? That doesn't even sound like English!"

"'Cause it's not, doofus," the mutant replied with a sneer.

Sensing a fight was about to break out, Todd threw himself in-between the two and held out a hand for Pietro to shake. "Ya can call me Toad, dawg," he said with a friendly grin.

Pietro blinked before politely shaking his hand, noticing only briefly how sweaty it felt (he would later realize that it was actually slime). Then, he snarked, "Toad? What kind of name is that?"

"His real name is Todd," Lance stated. "That's just his codename. Don't _you_ have one?"

"Course I do! It's Quicksilver!"

"Why are you called that?" Freddy asked, finally making himself known.

Suddenly, Pietro was right in front of him, standing on his tippy-toes so he was at a better eye-level with the large teen.

"Why do you think?" Pietro asked, his voice and grin both slightly evil as he watched the blonde visibly deflate in slight fear.

"Hey, back offa him," Lance said, coming a little closer.

Pietro turned around to face him. "And just what are _you_ going to do if I _don't,_ hotshot?"

One of the corners of Lance's mouth curved up slightly. "Allow me to demonstrate." He put his hands out and the house began to shake like mad.

The ground beneath them heaved, almost like waves on the ocean floor. High above, bits of ceiling such as plaster and wood began to fall. The doors on the cabinets all around the house flew open and shut from the strong movement, the house then giving a loud groan from the tremendous pressure.

Pietro struggled to stay on his feet, the ground underneath him making it hard to stay upright. Even if he tried to run, he knew he would slip and be in a great deal of pain. "Agh! Okay, okay! Stop!"

Surprisingly, Lance obeyed and the house reverted back to its normal state.

"S-so…" Pietro stammered out as he regained his balance. "…you don't like to play around, do you?"

Lance gave a light chuckle as he rubbed his right temple. "I've been told I've got a bit of a temper."

"A bit?" Todd asked with a smug grin, earning him a slight, short-lived glare from Lance.

"I can tell," Pietro replied to the rock-tumbler. "What do you call yourself?"

"Avalanche."

"Hmm, I like it. Not overdramatic, but not too boring."

Lance gave another quiet laugh. "Thanks."

"So," Pietro said, turning back to Fred. "What about you?"

"What about me what?"

Pietro made an annoyed face, but managed to keep himself in check. "What can you do?"

"I'm the Blob," the blond said proudly. "I'm really strong and I can literally make myself immovable."

Pietro looked very impressed and gave an understanding nod. "Interesting," he said before looking back at Todd who was staring intently at a fly that was buzzing around him. "Toad, right? What can you—eww…" Pietro groaned in disgust as Todd's long, green tongue shot out and attached itself to the fly before bringing it back into his mouth and swallowing it.

"Heh, sorry," Todd said, scratching the back of his neck. "Yer gonna have tah get used tah that."

"Yep, 'cause he's the Toad," Fred said with a chuckle.

"Yeah. Green, slimy, and gross," Lance said, messing Todd's hair up.

"Hey, get off!" Todd yelled, trying to bat his hand away.

Pietro found himself grinning. He liked these guys. Sure, they were complete dorks, but so was he. They didn't seem to hold themselves in very high regard, unlike how he'd seen those x-geeks act when they helped Daniels catch him earlier. These guys were nice and chill.

"So," Pietro said as he took a seat on the couch. "What's the plan?"

"What do you mean?" Freddy asked.

"This whole 'team' thing; how are we going to go about it?"

"We don' know, yo," Todd said, hopping onto the arm of the couch and squatting there. "Boss-lady said she'll tell us."

"Who?" Pietro asked.

"Mystique," Lance answered. "Don't you know her? Didn't she bring you?"

Pietro didn't like admitting when he didn't know things (especially in front of strangers), but he knew he couldn't lie his way out of this. "No. Who is she?"

"She can be anybody," Fred said, his voice a little shaky.

"She can basically shift into people, animals, all kinds of stuff!" Lance explained further.

"And even worse, she's the principal of our high school," Todd said as he flopped down on the couch.

So _that's_ where he was going to go. "How bad is she?"

"Think of the scariest person you know," Lance said.

Heh, that was easy. "Okay."

"Make that person ten times more threatening and scary. That's how bad she is."

"Trust us, man. Ya don' wanna mess wit' her 'cause she's the one in charge here," Todd said, his voice serious.

"Hmm..." Pietro hummed thoughtfully as he mused over the fact that these guys probably didn't know about Magneto yet. This chick was probably just a subordinate of his. He quickly deduced he'd better not say anything about Magneto unless he was brought up by the lady or the man told him it was alright to speak about him freely. He'd have to wait until he received any kind of orders...even though he _hated_ waiting...

"She sounds pretty bad when you put it like that," Pietro commented after a while. "What does she want us to do?"

The three shrugged, all murmuring how she hadn't said a word about her plans.

A pregnant pause took lay amongst them before the speedster asked, "Got any tunes?"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Finally, the next chapter is out! Hooray, right?**

**So, I feel Rogue never got to know the Brotherhood all that well, considering how she changed sides halfway through season one. I feel she called them her 'friends' more out of obligation, just because she felt she couldn't completely trust the X-Men because of how Mystique tricked her. That' why she's pretty much anti-social here, so sorry about that. I do like Rogue, but she doesn't really play a huge part in this story.**

**And Pietro finally enters! Pietro's probably my fav character to write for, just because he's one of the strangest. I mean, he's a quick thinker, but also an impatient and cocky bastard because of that. I figure he would've been the hardest to get used to (especially for Lance, who has no time deal with that bullshit), but as the series goes on, the boys seem to get more used to how weird Pietro is.**

**Oh, and the thing about Evan never being his friend, you can interpret that how you want. Personally, I think they were best buds who just grew apart. Tragic, but that's what I think.**

**Coming up, we have the events of 'Middleverse', which is not done yet, but hopefully shall be done in about a month (I have many other things to work on, so apologize for that), but thank you so much for reading and I will love it if anyone would leave a review! Thank you!**


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